Signs of a Recovering Market?

The statistics we report from MLS data in San Francisco shows some interesting and hopeful signs that the overall market is beginning to recover. 

The 4th quarter of 2009 showed an increase in the number of properties shown in four of five categories of properties we survey and all five categories are up substantially compared to the 4th quarter last year (yes, I know, the last quarter of 2008 was a horrible time and you would expect the number of sales to be low but since then sales have risen steadily).

Click here to see the entire report in PDF.

Prices are still down -- in most cases average sales prices for 2009 are where they were in 2003/2004.

Click here to see the larger version.

So it seems that like much of the rest of the economy, there are tentative signs of recovery but it's likely to be a long, slow process.  Which is probably a good thing overall when it comes to real estate.